Chapter 42
“…Looks like someone with a heavy body has quite a light tongue.”
Blair’s smirk made Ecarter’s anger reach its peak.
“How dare you do something like that in my empire!! Do you have any idea what will happen if this gets out?!”
“…Who knows?”
Blair wiped the corner of his mouth. His fingers came away with red blood, yet his eyes were cold enough to be chilling as he smiled.
“…Did people rise up, demanding to judge the Crown Prince’s rights and wrongs?”
“You—!!”
“I doubt it. Father must have taken care of things so that wouldn’t happen. You fear nothing, but there’s one thing you always worry about—public opinion. So you made sure it didn’t spread.”
“…So you knew and still did it on purpose?!”
Ecarter raised his hand again to strike Blair, but Marcus, standing beside him, grabbed his arm desperately.
“Your Majesty, calm yourself. Getting this worked up isn’t good for your blood pressure.”
At Marcus’s urgent plea, Ecarter slowly lowered his hand and slumped into his chair as if all strength had drained from him.
“Why did you do such a thing? What could you possibly be lacking? You even dragged a marquis into it to commit such a heinous act!”
There was a time when just meeting Ecarter’s eyes made Blair tremble in fear. But now, seeing him worrying over public opinion and unable to deal with Empress Isabelle’s power—how pitiful he looked.
Blair answered without hesitation.
“You’ll never guess the real reason for what I did, Father.”
“What… do you mean?”
Ecarter raised his head, meeting Blair’s deep, black eyes—filled with resentment.
“It was to correct your past mistakes.”
“Past mistakes…?”
“…I mean Crown Princess Sienna—my mother—the one you dethroned with your own hands.”
“……!!”
Ecarter’s pupils shook violently at the name.
“You dare say that name again?!”
“So you haven’t forgotten it completely, then.”
Blair smiled faintly.
“I can’t explain the details. But it was something I had to do for my mother.”
“For your… mother?” Ecarter stammered in shock.
“What could you possibly do for Sienna… when she’s dead…?”
“No, Father. Mother is still alive.”
Ecarter shook his head in disbelief.
“That’s impossible. I saw her death with my own eyes…!”
“Oh, right—you gave the order to kill her, didn’t you? So I guess it’s only natural you’d believe that…”
“Blair, that’s not true! Sienna—!!”
“That’s enough. I’ve already saved the life you abandoned, so it’s no longer any of your concern.”
“……!!”
“Oh, and I’ll need a little help from the palace while I’m here. That won’t be a problem, right?”
“Blair!!”
Blair bowed lightly with a bright smile.
“I’ll take that as your permission. I’ll keep a low profile for now.”
With that, he left the room.
“What… what is going on?!”
Pointing at Blair’s back, Ecarter suddenly clutched his neck and collapsed.
“Your Majesty! Someone, quickly—fetch the royal physician!!”
Marcus’s frantic shouts followed Blair down the corridor, but he didn’t look back. As he strolled leisurely, he saw Ecarter’s physician and attendants rushing toward the Emperor’s chambers.
Back in his own quarters, Ikelos approached.
“How did it go, Your Highness?”
“Pretty much as expected.”
Blair touched his split lip, then gave Ikelos a meaningful look.
“…The physicians just rushed to check on Father.”
“Then…?”
Blair licked the corner of his mouth, tasting blood. Soon, he would taste something far richer.
“Proceed.”
At the short command, Ikelos bowed.
“…Yes, Your Highness.”
He slipped into the shadows and vanished into the night. Alone, Blair murmured toward the window:
“…This situation—Father, you brought it on yourself.”
Moments later, a black shadow shot up into the sky outside. Like fireworks, it burst and spread over the entire palace.
It happened in an instant, but Blair saw it clearly. Soon, that shadow would cling to everyone in the palace, draining their energy—servants, aides, the Empress, the Emperor… no one would escape.
No one except Blair, who carried Sienna’s blood.
A small shadow crawled up Blair’s back, but the moment it touched his energy, it disintegrated. Alone in the palace, free from the black shadow, Blair smiled in satisfaction.
A few days before Callhail and Reina’s wedding, Reina was told someone from the palace had come to see her.
When she came down to the lobby, a man she didn’t recognize—wearing clothing embroidered with the imperial crest—was waiting.
“Are you Lady Reina?”
“Yes, I am.”
The man introduced himself as Leto, the Chancellor, and bowed politely.
“I bring a wedding gift on behalf of Her Majesty, Empress Isabelle.”
“A wedding gift?”
Leto smiled.
“You’ll soon be part of the imperial family. It’s a gift for someone joining our ranks.”
Reina hadn’t expected this.
“Her Majesty also said to thank you for the help during the last hunting tournament,” Leto added.
‘So she really did use me, huh,’ Reina thought bitterly.
“Bring it in,” she said.
At his signal, a servant brought forward an ebony box.
“Please accept it.”
Inside was a tiara set with a large ruby and lined with small diamonds.
“This is…?”
“Her Majesty chose it herself, thinking it would match your hair color.”
‘It’s a big, fine ruby—guess that’s what you get when it’s from the Empress,’ Reina thought.
“Please thank Her Majesty for me,” she said, taking the box.
But Leto didn’t leave.
“…Is something else the matter?” she asked.
“Lady… is it true you played a big role in catching the gambling scammer recently?”
“Uh… yes?”
“The whole capital is talking about it. They say you grabbed the scammer’s wrist so he couldn’t escape.”
“Ah… ha ha ha…”
“How did you notice his trick? I heard many people lost money to him.”
“Oh, that’s nothing. My father—” She almost mentioned her past life father, but caught herself. “—My father, Count Pilon, always told me to train my eyes to see the truth. If you try, you’ll see it, ha ha.”
As she laughed awkwardly, a strange smell hit her nose—a nasty, sewer-like stench.
Sniff sniff. It was coming from… Leto.
‘What, doesn’t the Chancellor bathe?’
When she frowned slightly, he asked, “Is something wrong, Lady Reina?”
“No… it’s nothing.”
She couldn’t exactly say, You smell bad, to his face. But then she noticed something—a faint black haze writhing at the back of his neck.
“…?”
Was she imagining it?
“Is something wrong?” he asked again.
“No… Please, take care,” she said quickly.
He left, his servants following—and they, too, seemed to have faint shadows on their necks.
“That’s strange. Am I just too tired?” she murmured, rubbing her eyes. By then, the shadow was gone.
That evening, she smelled the same odor again—this time from Callhail.
Late that night, Callhail came by to finalize wedding preparations.
“Do I need an eye check? Why do I keep seeing weird things?”
Even without black clothes, Callhail was surrounded by a dark aura. No matter how much she rubbed her eyes, it stayed.
“And what’s with this smell?!” she exclaimed, plugging her nose as he came closer.
